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Real world open source

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Open source is here to stay, and people are using it for doing real work. Join this group and learn more about what is in the open-source arena and how people are using it today. You'll find pointers and discussion about the Open Source Zone on develope

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I found a really informative article that explains in great depth about the points to consider while you plan to open source your project. It's a good read for those who are new to open source projects and want to learn about the process. The article starts off discussing why "Creating an open-source project isn’t just about making your code freely available to others" ?. Why you should be clear about the goals behind making a project open source? Then the article touches the issue of License that you should choose for your project.... [More]

Seems like the world's largest mobile handset maker has slowly started distancing itself from the the world most popular mobile OS . Yes, I am talking about Samsung electronics, which in a move to " lighten its growing dependence on Google " has announced that it has plans to " release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year ". Samsung has collaborated with Japan's NTT Docomo to sell the Tizen powered devices. The company's move to reduce the reliance with Google's Android came after the search engine giant acquired... [More]

The war between open source and proprietary software is about to enter the world of feature films with Software wars . The film is currently under fund raising campaign with film makers eyeing a goal of $150k to complete this 90 minute film. If the film makers reach their funding goal, there would be another 4-5 months of effort to get the final product out for viewers. Meanwhile they have released a teaser video of the film that shows interviews by various personalities like Linus Torvalds etc along with information about how open source... [More]

How would you feel if your phone could pre-empt your requirements and could provide related information to you before you even think of asking it? That sounds pretty cool, right? But, is it possible? Yes, you can experience this with Google Now on your Android phone. What is Google Now ? For those who are new to Google Now , it's an Android application that is specifically designed to automatically get you useful information considering the time and place you are in. This means your phone automatically gets you weather information when you... [More]

Hi, I am Himanshu Arora, owner of Real world open source group. As the year 2012 dawns and year 2013 rises, I'd like to wish all the group members a happy and prosperous new year. Let's all make at least one resolution to see a better us as we step in 2013. The team behind Real World Open Source group has lots to offer in 2013. So, stay connected and experience the best of open source in 2013. " Begin another new chapter and remember that you have 365 days
to make every page of the chapter worth remembering when you finish the
year.... [More]

It's Christmas day and Santa is on his journey to distribute gifts. For the people who want to track his route, it will not be an easy decision to make this time. The reason is that this time NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command), the agency which has been tracking Santa since 1955 has teamed up with Microsoft this year to track Santa's route at noradsanta while Google on the other end has come up with It's own tracking system SantaTracker .
Though we might think that both are reliable systems for tracking Santa but the... [More]

Smoothwall Express is one the most popular open source Linux firewall distribution which comes at zero cost and is configured through a web-based GUI. Due to its clean and user-friendly interface, it remains the favorite of people who are new to Linux. Its installation is easy and most of the default options can be selected during installation. It also remains popular among geeks as well because of its effective work. Moreover, it runs equally smooth on an obsolete computer as it goes with the latest one.
Features Some of the main features of... [More]

MaKey MaKey is an open source hardware project that can be used to turn everyday objects into touchpads. It is a kit that consists of a MaKey MaKey board, Alligator Clips and USB Cable. It can be used with any object that can conduct a bit of electricity. How does it work? Here is an excerpt (from official website) explaining how this kit works : Alligator Clip two objects to the MaKey MaKey board. For example, you and an apple. When you touch the apple, you make a connection, and MaKey MaKey sends the computer a keyboard message. The... [More]

In a major development, the council of Swiss city of bern has voted in favor of switching to open source software and IT solutions. There were 36 votes in favor of this switch while 20 were against it. This clearly means that proprietary software will be kicked out from the government offices of Bern. The council also plans to promote open source software in schools by providing training to increase FOSS awareness among teachers. Here is what a post on http://joinup.ec.europa.eu reports : The council members want, firstly, that all future... [More]

After calling Richard Stallman's stand on Ubuntu as childish, Jono bacon, the Ubuntu community manager has issued an apology for what he said in his personal blog post. Here is what he says in his new blog post titled On Being Childish; An Apology :
As such, Richard, I apologize whole-heartedly to referring to your position in your post as ‘childish‘ and I continue to have great respect for the work you do to encourage and grow software freedom around the world. This came after an attacking response by Jono a few days earlier where he... [More]

The free software foundation (FSF) leader Richard Stallman has slammed Ubuntu as spyware. The GNU project creator is furious over the new feature of Ubuntu 12.10 dash that shows results from Amazon in addition to the results local to a computer. He calls it as a breach in user privacy, a fundamental that free and open source software should strictly adhere to. Though this feature of Ubuntu dash has been criticized by lot of people but words coming from a person like Richard Stallman are bound to get attention.
Here is an excerpt from what... [More]

Aakash (sky) version 2 or Aakash-2 is the latest offering from a Canadian company Datawind. It is an android based tablet that is backed by Indian government to fulfill it's plan of empowering every student with a tablet. The real cost of tablet is around $35 to $40 but it will be provided at a subsidized rate of $20 to students in India. It is being hyped as a game changer in the Indian education sector where the quality of education for the students belonging to economically weaker section is not as per standards. The journey of this... [More]

If you are a Linux enthusiast but have never heard of this debate then I think you have missed something really interesting. The basis of this debate were the allegations made by Andrew S. Tanenbaum ( an American computer scientist and professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Also best known as the author of MINIX, a free Unix-like operating system for teaching purposes ) on Linux portability and kernel architecture in general. The debate was started in 1992 on the Usenet discussion group... [More]

Seems like it has been the month of open source music/media players on this blog. First it was VLC, then Clementine and then Miro. Following the trend, this time I thought about writing on another FOSS music player SONGBIRD. Songbird is a free and open source music player. It's an organizer through which you can manage, play and discover the music. This music player is easy to use and highly customizable which makes it the favorite music player of many. It is compatible with multiple platforms and has ability to play multiple formats too.... [More]

Miro is a free and open source media player which is available for
various platforms. This media player not only organizes your music and
videos but can do much more than that. It is simple to use with a
beautiful interface and is loaded with all the wonderful features. It
supports most known video and audio formats and was launched initially
as Democracy Player in 2005(later on named `Miro in 2007). Miro features Some of the main features of Miro include(From official website): Works
with your current music library: It's very easy... [More]